Meet George!

Back in October 2019, while the ever relentless Irishwoman was visiting me, I brought her to visit the old Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. Why not, how many visitors to this state can say they went and saw the prison where James Earl Ray was incarcerated after his conviction for the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

I also brought my Bronica camera, along with some Kodak Tri-X black and white film, figuring it would be fun to try it out. I still need to work more with the camera - it is not easy to hold it still and it is held at waist level instead of up to one’s face; I have never appreciated more the stability that having an eye pressed to a viewfinder brings.

But back to Brushy. One of the delights about this place is the fact that the docents there are former guards . . . and former prisoners. And one such docent is an absolute delight of a man, George Wyatt, Jr. As he tells it, he became an involuntary guest of Brushy Mountain after his conviction for trying to blow up a safe at a country club where he worked - and managed to blow up the entire country club.

Oops.

But he has no ill feelings and uses his position to tell his story, especially if he thinks it could keep someone else from pursuing a criminal act. We were charmed by his delivery, and loved how often he would emphasize something with his line, “I’m just putting it out there.”

The stories he had to tell! Nothing can compare with hearing them firsthand! George led us to the various cells he inhabited - they moved inmates around so they would not become used to the guards’ schedules and plot escape - and had the key to unlock the door and let us in. Think about it - the very spot where he was imprisoned he now had the key to open!

I will be going back when I can to Brushy Mountain. I want to hear George tell his story again, because he is such a dear man who maybe can’t blow up a safe properly but he such as hell knows how to tell his story.

You need to hear it, too.